Cardiovascular complications of modern tumor therapy-the right balance

Novel cancer therapies are contributing to the steadily decreasing cancer mortality. However, many of these new therapies can have significant cardiovascular complications. These can appear during treatment and, in the worst case, may even require discontinuation of treatment. At the same time, chronic side effects of cancer therapies such as heart failure, valvular heart disease or coronary artery disease are becoming increasingly relevant due to improved long-term survival and are the most common non-cancer associated cause of death. Many of the cardiovascular complications can be treated effectively, resulting in an improved long-term survival of the patients. Knowledge of the agent-specific cardiovascular side effects and diagnostic options is essential for structured management of cardio-oncologic patients to further improve mortality and morbidity in cancer patients.